In the fabrication of integrated circuits, it is often customary to form various material layers by the decomposition of appropriate precursor materials. A typical example is the formation of amorphous silicon from the decomposition of silane gas. Amorphous silicon finds a variety of applications in integrated circuit technology, including use as an intermediate layer in poly-buffered LOCOS isolation technology. Generally, amorphous silicon is deposited within a reactor chamber utilizing a suitable precursor gas.
Traditionally, after a layer of suitable thickness has been deposited upon a substrate within a chamber, the deposition process is terminated by shutting off the flow of the precursor gas to the chamber.